The Beast King (Part 4)

Temptation, activate!

Even in terms of raw stats, I already outclassed both the Beast King and the rabbit beastman Bunny. But stats alone weren't going to put either of them down. The Beast King and Bunny had better traits than I did — and more of them. Their skill levels were far higher, too.

The only reason they were rattled was that I refused to stay down. I kept recovering, kept getting back up, and kept getting stronger with every fall. To close the gap in traits and skills, pin Bunny, and kill the Beast King, I needed my stats at least twenty points higher across the board.

Twenty points was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the benchmark for a reason. Every time a rank rose by a single star, the stat cap climbed by twenty. If every one of my stats sat twenty points above theirs, it would be the same as standing a full rank above them.

"...Bunny."

"...Understood, Master."

The Beast King, who'd been watching me with taut, wary eyes, suddenly called her name. They locked gazes, and Bunny's face hardened with resolve.

What the hell? This feels seriously wrong.

The look in her eyes — like she'd already made her peace with something — sent a cold ripple down my spine. Wasn't that the look of someone ready to throw her life away just to carve the Beast King an opening to kill me?

Bunny was his Fairy for now, but it wouldn't be long before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she was mine. And not just any Fairy — a 6-star with excellent traits, excellent skills, and primary stats packed to the brim. A premium piece.

The Beast King and Bunny dropped into their stances, coiled to charge. Bunny stood a step ahead of him.

Shit. I was saving this as a last resort.

This is entirely on you, Beast King. So even if it feels unfair, grit your teeth and take it.

Temptation!

I fired the skill again, converting the Gold in my inventory into Gems.

Then I started easing backward, burning through Gems as I went.

Lust Release! Molt!

The desire currently burning in me was simple: I wanted the Beast King dead. But that thick, concentrated murderous will vanished almost as soon as it bloomed — because I stripped the Lust Release effect off myself with Molt.

Lust Release! Molt! Lust Release! Molt! Lust Release! Molt!

I kept cycling the two skills over and over, right up until the Beast King and Bunny closed the distance. A thousand Gems vanished with every Molt — but my stats kept climbing in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠return.

"Brace yourself, you piece of trash!"

Bunny's legs swelled like balloons, and she sprang into the air. She launched herself the way a high jumper does, arcing straight at me.

"GRAAAAAAH!"

The Beast King moved in the same breath. He was fast — but just as I'd figured, he was a beat behind her. Two beats, even.

My current stats are...

I flicked the window open, checked the numbers, and smiled inwardly — a nasty little smile. Then I shouted at the Beast King charging toward me.

"Wow... I get that you're scared of me, but throwing your Fairy away as a sacrifice? That's some real garbage behavior. You're not the Beast King — you're the Trash King! The Non-Recyclable King!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut your mouth, trash! You're the trash here!"

I'd been talking to the Beast King. Bunny answered right along with him. Shit, Bunny, you are so dead. Just you wait.

"HAAAAAH!"

The instant I entered her range, Bunny scythed her leg around. Packed with mana, that limb was a weapon that could split bone from flesh.

"Let's end this!"

This time I didn't dodge. I met her head-on and threw a punch straight at the incoming leg.

A smirk tugged at Bunny's mouth. My not dodging had apparently been her best-case scenario. I gave her the exact same smirk right back.

I seized her furiously swinging leg with both hands.

"Wh-what?!"

Bunny's eyes flew wide. If my stats had still been what they were a moment ago, catching that leg would have been impossible. But I'd finished the Molt doping in that brief window, and snatching a limb swung like a blade was trivially easy.

With item effects and the Beastman Transformation skill stacked on top of her, Bunny's Agility sat at 120 (+6). Mine was 140 (+8). A twenty-two-point gap. That was what made a stunt like this possible.

"HRAAAAH!"

"Kyah?!"

Gripping her leg, I hurled her sideways with everything I had. She couldn't overcome the difference in raw power. She went flying limp and slammed into the wall.

"Ghk...!"

The impact must have been vicious. Bunny crumpled against the stone, twitching, and couldn't get up.

"Die!"

In that opening, the Beast King had closed to point-blank range and driven a fist at my heart. The malice in it was thick — he fully intended to punch straight through my chest. I didn't dodge. I threw a punch of my own.

"Let's die together, you son of a bitch!"

"GRAAAAAH!"

Our fists punched into each other's hearts at the same time.

"Ghk...! Cough!"

A violent shock slammed through my chest. My Durability had climbed to 138 (+13), but a full-power strike from the Beast King was still devastating.

If I stay like this, I'm dead! Molt!

Instinct screamed it at me — my heart was about to stop — so I fired Molt in a hurry. I'd died and come back quite a few times by now, but that filthy taste of death creeping in never got any easier to swallow.

"Hoo... I think I'll live."

The death that had been hovering right in front of my face smacked its lips and receded. Shoo. Shoo. Get the hell out of here.

Having shaken off the shock, I looked at the Beast King. His eyes were wide open, his fist still buried in my chest. I shoved him backward, and he toppled over just like that.

Unlike me — with the best recovery skill in existence — the Beast King had nothing. He couldn't tank a blow to the heart the way I could.

I climbed onto the fallen Beast King and took the mount. He was on the verge of death, but he wasn't dead yet.

"This isn't personal, Beast King. Killing you was simply my mission."

I said it to an unconscious man. Just as I'd told him, I had no private grudge. The only reason we'd had to fight was that we'd grabbed opposite ends of the rope. That was all.

I raised ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my fist high, and drove it down into the unconscious Beast King's heart.

Every time my fist punched into his chest, his body jerked.

"N-no... ah, aah, aaaah...!"

From far off, the fallen Bunny crawled toward me — no, toward the Beast King — tears streaming down her face. I paused my fists and waited for her to drag herself to my side.

"Bunny."

"P-please spare him... I-I was wrong... so please, at least Master..."

I spoke to the girl begging for the Beast King's life.

My fist punched through the Beast King's heart. Bunny, feeling the soul-bond snap, screamed.

In one hand, the Beast King's corpse. In the other, a completely vacant Bunny. I dragged them both back to where the party was waiting.

"Alan!"

"See, Master? Didn't I say Sir Alan would be perfectly fine?"

"Master! Are you all right?"

"Waaah! Master, you okay?!"

"You worked so hard, Master."

The moment I appeared, the resting party members surged to their feet and rushed me. I set the Beast King's corpse and Bunny down on the floor and greeted them.

"Man. Looks like you all had a rough time too."

Nobody was dead or critically hurt, but they'd clearly had a brutal fight against the Beast King's Fairies. They were in terrible shape. The expensive armor they'd bought looked like it had been chewed apart by wild animals, and the dungeon interior had collapsed in places, as if bombs had gone off.

"They were the Beast King's Fairies, yes? They certainly... weren't easy."

Sonic, a long claw mark raked across her cheek, bit her lip as she spoke. In her past life, as the ace Fairy of my main account, she had stood in a position of near-absolute power. The fact that she'd struggled against Fairies who were merely 5-star clearly didn't sit well with her.

I stroked her cheek and used Multi Heal.

The wound on Sonic's cheek vanished, and the light radiating from me seeped into the rest of the party, knitting their injuries shut.

"Whoa... that's insane. You're not even a healer and you're putting out this much recovery?"

Canisia marveled as the wounds closed in an instant. Multi Heal increased recovery by one percent per skill level, which meant the version I was using restored a full thirty percent. Of course, it still fell short of a dedicated Healer class — Healers had recovery-boosting effects built in.

"That's the power of dungeon grinding for you."

The fruit of repeatedly clearing dungeons, over and over, all this time.

"The Beast King... is dead?"

"M-Master. H-he's dead. He's really dead! The arch-criminal who persecuted you — the Beast King is dead!"

Meanwhile, the Beast King's younger brother Jericho and his Fairy Telmuer stared at the motionless body with naked disbelief. Unable to accept that the Beast King was truly gone, Telmuer even waved a hand in front of his wide-open eyes and slapped his cheek to confirm it.

"Ha, haha! Hahahahaha! He's dead! The Beast King is dead! There's no Beast King in this world anymore! Which means — this is my world! My world has come! Bwahahaha!"

"My congratulations, Master! What title would suit you? Overlord, perhaps, to capture the weight of your power? Ah! Or Immortal King, to signify that you shall reign forever — that doesn't sound bad either!"

"Hahahaha! We can figure that out later! This is all thanks to you, Telmuer. If you hadn't been by my side... I would have given up long ago."

"Master..."

Jericho and Telmuer were putting on a whole circus between the two of them.

"What the hell are those two going on about?"

"Right?"

Canisia and I looked at them and let out dry laughs.